PA forever abandons dual trout season; moves on to one early date that could do for cold fishing Outdoors

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission this fall voted to cancel two separate trout season discoveries in the state.

Starting this year, trout season will open nationwide on the first Saturday of April.

This is April 2, 2022.

Since Trout Day with mentoring always takes place a week before the nationwide opening, that day will be March 26, 2022.

According to the agency’s board of commissioners, research over the past couple of years shows that fishermen prefer to have one opening day rather than two.

“Thank you to the Pennsylvania fishermen for hearing about trout season and for being a partner in this decision,” said Richard Kaufman, chairman of the Fish and Boat Commission.

“Although the necessary changes in the last two seasons due to the pandemic have been inconvenient for many people, we have used an unprecedented opportunity to ask many questions about how we have been doing everything over the last fifteen years.

“Through a large number of public contributions, including surveys of fishermen presenting opening day options, it has become clear that our agency and most fishermen in Pennsylvania appreciate and prefer one opening day of the trout season moving forward.”

By choosing the first Saturday of April as the state’s permanent trout season opening date, the agency took into account several factors such as weather, water temperature, logistics and security logistics, and social impacts.

For years, Pennsylvania opened the trout season across the state in one day – the first Saturday after April 11th.

In 2007, the Fish and Boat Commission divided the state to take into account the higher water temperatures here in the southeastern part of the state.

In Lancaster and in all or part of the 17 surrounding counties, the opening day since 2007 has always been planned two weeks before the traditional opening day.

This earlier start gave more time for trout stocking and trout fishing at a time when water temperatures in southeastern Pennsylvania were really cold.

Nothing heats up faster than a creek that runs through the open cows of Lancaster County.

Thus, for 13 of the last 15 years, fishermen from Pennsylvania have been able to take advantage of two opening days.

They could fish on the opening day of the fish on the southeast streams, and then two weeks later they could go to the mountains for a common sashar.

The last two years have been an exception.

In 2021, the Fish and Boat Commission opened trout season across the state on April 3 due to fears of overcrowding during the pandemic.

Last year, trout fishermen woke up on Tuesday, April 7, and found that the Fish and Boat Commission without warning announced that trout season was open immediately.

The discovery of the surprise was announced once again to try to minimize overcrowding.

MAY BE COLD

Having decided at their October meeting to keep the single opening day in the future, the commissioners decided to lean towards the previous opening.

For fishermen of the South-Eastern trout the new opener will not be special changes.

The trout season in the southeast opened in late March no earlier than the last 15 years, so the opening of the season on the first Saturday of April is not as early as it used to be.

A group of guys with whom I have been fishing for the past 30 years have conducted a traditional sapper in the Po Valley in the Central District near the State College.

We rest for a couple of days to celebrate the opening day.

All these discoveries would fall on the first Saturday after April 11, which is at least a week and a half later than this year.

I remember fishing in the snow. I remember many frosty days and nights.

And those impressions were sometimes two weeks later than what will now happen in the mountains.

There are some parts of Pennsylvania that may well be buried under the snow on April 2nd.

On April 2, 2018, during a storm in the Center County area where we are opening fishing, 7 inches of snow fell.

According to the Weather Atlas, in the Kudersport area of ​​Potter County in April historically fell an average of 4 inches of snow, with most of it falling in the first days of the month.

April 2 may be no different from other opening days of the past 15 years here in Lancaster County.

But it can be annoying in places like Bradford County.

STATE PARKS ARE WATCHING

Following the October vote of the Fish and Boat Commission for the start of the 2022 trout season across the state on April 2, the State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is working on adjusting the camping season.

Several state parks in the area, where trout season historically opened on the Saturday after April 11, did not open their campsites until early April.

For example, the Poe Paddy State Park campsite in Central County shows that camping is prohibited until April 8 – the Friday after the April 2 opening.

Christina Novak, director of the DCNR Liaison Office, said her agency is working to rectify the situation so that in state parks where trout fishing is usually conducted, their campsites are open to fishermen until the weekend of April 2nd.

If you want to book one of the major campgrounds in these parks on opening day, stay tuned for updates on the DCNR website.

“DCNR will extend the seasons in our trout reservation system for trout fishing to a new single opening date,” Novak said.

“We expect this process to be completed in January. We will make a news release with specific information about the park and additional details. “